Tales of a Shadowmancer
by Setorrow
Summary: Currently being worked on, Tales of a Shadowmancer is a short story that has been my brain child for a little while. It has evolved and changed since it's very first concept but the core has remained the same. Even though currently I am only releasing what I have, I hope you will enjoy it and I look forward to some feedback.
1. Chapter 1 (12-05 08:29:13)

**Tales of the Shadowmancer**

 **Chapter One**

I woke up gasping in a cold sweat, my heart thumping faster than I was able to keep track of. I tried to move, but something caught me. I was strapped into a chair, leather around my thighs, chest, wrists, ankles and throat. I scraped the wooden arms of the chair beneath my fingers trying to understand where I was. I felt a sharp pain shoot through my hand from the movement. I strained my neck to see why. Clear thin tubes stuck out of every square centimeter of my flesh leading up to some strange contraption in the ceiling that reflected what little light was there.

I heard a sound so quiet it was barely there at all. I turned feeling every tube stuck in my neck busily readjusting in the most painful way imaginable. I let out a pained cry, a bloody taste in my mouth. My eyes were weak from the strain, but I made out the figure of a man in front of a large mirror. He was bound in a chair similar to mine, but with metal where the leather would be, tubes and wires wound around his seat leading up to the thing on the ceiling.

A voice that sounded like it was dipped in caramel came to life over a loudspeaker and spoke something that I couldn't quite understand. The only word I thought I heard was mint. I was opening my mouth to ask what was going on when suddenly there was a click. Pain erupted through every cell of my being. I writhed in agony as the sound of a whirring machine banged against my ears. I vomited blood. Through my haze I saw the other man violently shaking, foaming at the mouth and his eyes roll back, white and lifeless as his muscles spasmed long after he was already dead.

All at once the pain stopped and I slouched against my restraints gasping for breath. I closed my eyes wishing for it to all be over, but then I heard a small sawing sound against leather or worse the charred flesh of the man on in front of the mirror. I couldn't tell. Without any real warning all of my restraints broke and I fell forward, opening my eyes just in time to see the ever encroaching bloody laminate tiles of the floor. I hit my nose. I started trying to get up. I stood shakily on my feet trying to find my balance. I fell. To my surprise I didn't hit the ground but was instead caught by someone, or something. I looked up to see a thing unlike anything I had seen before, something that was almost human shaped, but wasn't. A creature that was completely black, like I wasn't looking at anything at all, just a big, dark, nothing. Two white evenly spaced shapes opened up, in what must have been a head. It's white eyes staring at me as if it was trying to figure out what I was. After a few seconds it sat me down and turned to look at the crisp of a man across the room. In a single step it strode over to the charred remnants of the man and began to inspect it. The thing looked distraught. I thought that I was hallucinating but I was sure that I could hear it cry in a soft way, like it didn't want anyone to know how it felt.

The caramel voice sounded over the loudspeaker, "Subject two five six has survived, but subject one two six has passed. Experiment failed. Terminate two five six and start again with subjects three one four and two zero five."

There was a loud buzz above the door and a squadron of people in white hazmat suits erupted through it. Each person carried what looked to be flamethrowers with the exception of one who carried a mop and a bucket, ready to clean the mess that their co workers were about to make. The flamethrowers began to turn on, just a few at a time. I closed my eyes, ready to die. I waited. I waited. I waited.

I felt a pressure on my skin. It was nothing like the burning I expected, it felt cool and sent a calm sensation into my body. I opened my eyes. I was standing, but I didn't remember getting up. I looked around and saw the hazmat people staring at me shaking, some dropped their weapons with a loud shuddering clang. I looked at myself trying to see why they were afraid. My jaw dropped. I had tiny blades that looked like shark fins rotating around my forearms. My arms were covered in black plates with spikes at the fingertips, they gave off a dark black steam that floated downwards. I began to view the rest of my body in a hurried panic. My chest was covered in some sort of plate armor, my waist in a robe, asymmetric plates on my shoulders and armor down to my toes.

One of the hazmats picked up a flamethrower and set the flames on me. Black mist greeted the flames snuffing them out before they had a chance to meet me. Black tendrils that looked like pieces of cotton bandages knocked aside his weapon and picked him up into the air, coiling around his arms and legs with an extra bit of the dark fabric around his neck. The wrapping strained against his arms and legs causing the man to scream in agony as a sound of ripping flesh filled the small room. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know how to stop it. His arms and legs came off. The tendrils dropped them and turned to dust. It's grip around his neck tightened and began to beat the dismembered body on the ground, like it was playing with it, as a cat would with it's food. A woman screamed no longer frozen by fear. The rest of the hazmat team broke into a panic running to the door, their boots squelching from fresh urine.

The shadowy figure appeared in my mind it was panicking, afraid, confused. I looked at my hands again and it struck me. The shadowy monster was my armor and it was terrified. My body moved on its own. My body was too weak to fight back as the shadow moved for me. A dark pulse erupted from my core, decimating everything around us. The hazmat group looked at me with fear in their eyes, begging for mercy. The pulse hit them. Their bodies twisted and contorted in a way that nothing ever should. They were strewn across the floor twisted and broken like discarded toys. Blood covered what were once white suits. The building shook bits of ceiling tumbling around the shadow and I. My body lurched forward, being moved by the shadow, we jumped at the mirror. I closed my eyes ready for an impact, but none came. I slowly parted my eyelids to see myself standing in my tiny apartment, in front of the standing mirror.

I looked like hell. My hair and beard was streaked with white and I had dark circles around my eyes. My skin looked pale against the dark blood seeping from my wounds. I had a thick layer of stubble that(in addition to everything else)made me look like a crazed homeless man, and the bloodied beige rags didn't help.

Then, things started going black. I fell forward only to be caught by a set of shadowy black hands.

 **End of Chapter One**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

I sprang out of bed, only to fall to my hands and knees. I tried to steady myself on all fours filling my hands with carpet. After half an hour I was successful in my endeavor only to hear a terrible rip as I stood up on my knees. The shadowy figure(whom I wished I had dreamt)burst through the door with needle and thread. I wondered what they were for, only to realise what it meant to do. I tried to run, only to collapse due to the pain from a freshly opened wound. Long finger like tendrils held my wound closed as needle and thread sewed it shut at blinding speed with a surprising lack of pain.

Pulling me to my feet the creature walked me to a small table I had never seen in my apartment before. It sat me down and left returning moments later with a plate of breakfast foods. I knew this wasn't mine. I didn't even have milk, or a fridge. I had been living on a diet of mostly ramen for the past two years, but suddenly their was a bevy of new things in the apartment. All of which I knew I couldn't afford.

"How did--?" I began to ask until my hoarse voice started crackling. I was parched.

The creature looked at me concerned. It slid to the sink with a glass in hand and filled it with water. It then slinked back to me grabbing my face and pouring water into my mouth. It was unsettling, but I didn't have the required strength to object. My hands snapped up to the glass, guzzling its contents. The shadow creature let go and watched as I wolfed down the food it had given me. I didn't realize just how hungry I was till I started filling my mouth with food. Tears were streaming down my face and the creature began to panic. It didn't know what to do and started bringing things to me like a stuffed bear and towels, flitting through the window bringing new things with it.

I laughed at the absurdity of it all and the creature stopped, slumped into one of the new chairs it had likely stolen and relief washed over the room. I didn't know what I was supposed to do now. We sat there in silence for a while, confused as to what to do next. I shakily got up wondering how I would explain all of this new stuff to my landlord. I walked toward the bathroom to shower.

I sat there, the water hitting my bruised skin. The warm water felt nice washing over the stitched wound on my chest. I turned off the stream and turned to see my shadowy friend with a towel. I yelled in surprise. I made a mental note to sit down with the thing and discuss boundaries. I took the towel from the startled creature and apologised. It occurred to me that I should find out just what this monster was and if it had a name.

"So what do I call you?" I asked hoarsely

A line appeared across the things head below its eyes and a soul shattering sound erupted from its new mouth. I fell to my knees covering my ears to save myself from the terrible din. It stopped trying to speak and helped me back to my feet. It soon began carving something into the mirror. I looked to see what the shadowy thing had written. My name is ADAM. What's yours? I stood there for a minute not knowing what to say as Adam stood there watching me.

"My name is Richard Bennett, but people call me Dick." I spoke the words like I was trying to thoroughly understand each one properly

Adam opened his mouth to speak. My hands shot to my ears preparing for the impending din, but instead a small voice like a gurgle spoke I couldn't hear what he said so I brought my hands down from my ears to try and hear him.

"Richard…is…Dick?" Adam spoke in a voice like broken glass

"Well that's not how I would've put it but yeah." I replied

"Dick…is…friend." It stepped forward and, before I could object he embraced me in a hug with force that would have made a bear jealous. His touch was cold like ice. My teeth started chattering. He let go of me and handed me a clean grey t shirt, dark blue jeans, some socks, boxers and a pair of red converse sneakers. I put them all on and tore some tags off some of them that I was still pretty sure were stolen.

"How can I understand you now?" I asked

"I'm…talking…quiet…and…slow." Adam spoke in his gurgly way

There was a knock at the door. I finished sliding my shirt on before walking towards the door.

"BENNETT!" a deep voice cried "Your rent is LATE!" Adam cowered behind me

"Abernathy, I paid you last week!" I yelled back before flinging the door open to find Abernathy's head being carried by someone who clearly wasn't the portly man who up until maybe a few minutes ago was still my landlord and still had his neck attached to his shoulders.

Abernathy's head seemed to bubble right before it exploded in a shower of red. Shards of bone shot towards me. They clinked against the armor that had once again formed around my body. A man stepped into my apartment, shards of Abernathy's skull floating above his hand. He began to speak

"Two five six, it turns out you weren't a complete failure after all. Father wishes to bring you home."

 **End of Chapter Two**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

I stood still and watched the man. He was tall with purple eyes and long blond hair. He dressed as though he didn't belong in this time period, he looked like he belonged in an overly edgy production of "Romeo and Juliet" where Juliet cut herself and Romeo was even more pathetic and whiny. I don't know what it was but this electric feeling was screaming danger, tensing every muscle in my body preparing to fight or flee. I didn't know what was happening till after it happened. I moved my hand from where the blond man use to be and looked at him crumpled into a now crumbling wall coughing blood. He slammed his fist into his chest and started screaming as he pulled out of himself a sword made from his own bones. He shot forward at speeds I couldn't even imagine, thrusting his sword into a place I slipped out from. Ribbons flowed from the armor wrapping around his arms and legs only to be cut by a single fluid motion. The blond man began to cackle wildly.

"Father said to bring you home but he never said you couldn't be missing a few pieces!" The blond monster giggled

He swung at me again cutting through my armor and into my shoulder. I cried out in pain. I could feel Adam start to panic. A tendril shot from me and into the abdomen of my attacker. He coughed blood. Thin bits of bone shot between the plates of my armor. I coughed blood. The blond fiend pulled his blade from my shoulder. He pulled back as Adam started to absorb darkness condensing it within me. The man began to spin towards me in a dance of death. I couldn't move. My body felt heavy. I felt sick. The man leapt forward with his blade and a wild look in his eyes. I was going to die. I closed my eyes. I took one last deep breath. I waited. I opened my eyes to see a glistening blade hovering an inch from my neck. In fact the man holding the blade was also hovering as if frozen in time.

"Well that was entertaining, but enough is enough." spoke a calm and collected voice

I turned to see another man but with blue eyes short blond hair and a white suit doing what looked like knitting

"It's crochet if you must know." The man in the white suit sighed "The fact that's what you're wondering and not who is this person, why has time stopped or even, my that's a handsome looking man I wonder if he's single. You astound me Richard…or would you prefer me to call you Dick?"

"Dick." I said confused as to how he knew what I was thinking about "I'm sorry, but how did-"

"I know what you were thinking about? It's in one of my branches of magic."

"Magic…Wait are you telling me magic is real?"

"Yes it is and we'll have all the time in the world to talk about it but we should really go. Pausing time is not the easiest thing to do, it's really rather draining." He said as he dropped a newly crocheted doily on the blond man, pulled the pin on a grenade and hurriedly pushed Adam and myself through my mirror following close behind.

End of Chapter Three


	4. Chapter 4(unfinished)

**Chapter Four**

We walked into a room full of mirrors. The mirror we had just walked out of rippled slightly, like a pebble plinking into water. The man in the white suit smiled at me and held up five fingers. Then four fingers. Three fingers. Two. One. All at once the mirror we walked through shattered into tiny pieces with a muffled boom.

"What just happened?" I asked in a bewildered manner

"Oh, wasn't it obvious? I blew up your apartment." The white suited man replied

"WHAT!?" I yelled

"Yeah, there was a very dangerous man in there so I blew him up along with your apartment."

"Why didn't you just shoot him, or stab him or even hit him over the head with a chair?"

The white suited man stood there for a moment opening his mouth to say something only to promptly close it again. He finally gave up on that and decided to change the subject. "Where are my manners I haven't introduced myself, my name is Leopold Sunjoy, a time wizard. And," not allowing me to speak "we have important business to get to and we mustn't dally." He promptly began to push us through another mirror.

We arrived in a white room with white wallpaper, white tiles on the floor and ceiling, white doors and white frames around white pictures and mirrors. It was almost painful to look at. Not a speck of dust existed anywhere within the room. It was sterile. The doors burst open and a nurse and a doctor rushed into the room with a chair and what looked to be a very complicated first aid kit. The nurse was a burly looking man who with two great hands grabbed me by the shoulders and sat me down in the chair. I panicked flashing back to the last lab I'd been in. Adam must have felt my panic and forced tiny spikes to shoot up all over me like a hedgehog. The nurse stood strong looking into my eyes with a fierce calm, forcing me to relax. The tiny spines receded. The doctor opened up the kit on the floor causing a table covered in surgical supplies to jump out of it. She then proceeded to pour alcohol onto my shoulder. I yelped. The alcohol burned my wound. My armor dissipated and Adam stood before me watching the duo work. The nurse looked at me, clearly thinking about something. He tore off my shirt and horror covered his face as he looked at my chest wound. I looked down. The wound had taken on a green and purple hue. The nurse turned away and grabbed a bucket from the kit on the floor and began violently throwing up. I looked to see the doctor's expression but she was already fast at work cutting away the stitches and pouring alcohol into my chest wound. Her eyes briefly flicked to the nurse and a small grin appeared at the corners of her mouth.

"Amateur." she chuckled to herself as she began to properly treated my wounds

Adam watched on, amazed, while Leopold did his best not to look at any of it. The doctor cut away the infected tissue while spraying some kind of mist on my wounds. I was about to ask what she was doing when a searing hot pain cut its way across my skin. I looked and saw my flesh mending itself back together. New scars appeared over where my wounds use to be. The doctor picked up the nurse, folded the kit back up and left the room leaving almost no trace that they were ever there.


End file.
